Help! My Old Lady Please

[Lovem all]

In her heavy moulting condition she feels like you and I would feel when heavily down with influenza. With chicken even their inner organs change and shrink as every function is reduced except for the feather growth.
So imagine yourself fighting off a bunch of of horny youngsters that ganged up on you for abuse.

Wow, I had no idea. My poor baby.
I understand now. Thank you for telling me.

 

[piminuse]

If separating the boys is difficult then maybe you can bring Connie inside for a bit? Do you have a big tote or dog crate she can rest in for the meantime inside the house or maybe in the run or porch?

 

[aart]

Separate those rowdy boys...good to have separation enclosure(s) on hand and ready to go.

 

[M Brennen]

Definitely separate her. Teenagers can be quite rough.

 

[Morrigan]

If you care about your older hen, you need to find a way to keep your hen separate from your roosters, even if it is difficult. That really is the bottom line. Anything else is incredibly unfair to the hen, and may end up with her being seriously injured. Screen off a section of your coop with chicken wire, or buy a dog crate to confine either her or your roosters. Not only does molting weaken a chicken, but they are extra sensitive to touch as their feathers grow in. She is scared and in pain, and you cannot train cockerels to be less randy.

I know you want to keep all of your roosters, but you may want to reconsider that. Keeping too many randy cockerels in a confined space with older or weaker hens is going to cause hardship on the hens.

Sorry about your situation. Chicken keeping is hard sometimes, and requires tough decision to be made.

 

[Mrs. K]

Wishing they would all be nice, just does not work with roosters. And the plan you have, is not working for the set up you have. Set ups tend to be rather permanent, and expensive to change. If you can't change the set up, then the only thing you can change is the flock.

If you absolutely want to keep these roosters, then cull the hen. She is old, and probably will not live a lot longer. It would be better to give her the coop de grace, rather than letting her suffer countless daily attacks. Without a doubt, the roosters may kill her with this constant attention. However, know that if you do cull the hen, I would expect this behavior to transfer to another hen. You could pull her and see how the flock reacts, before making a final decision.

Wishing they would all be nice does not work. As the flock manager, you have to make some tough decisions. Once you do, you will be glad you did. This set up is causing a lot of tension in the whole flock, even the ones not being attacked.

Some tough decisions, but they are important decisions to make.

Mrs K

 

[Lovem all]

After a very dramatic moment yesterday evening where Z and D almost killed my other ten year year old, Combs, they are completely separated from the others until further notice and will live in the garden and have no contact with any ladies.